Russia - Industry

Russia has a range of mining and extractive industries. These include
coal, oil, and gas extraction as well as the chemicals and metals
industries. Russian enterprises take part in all forms of machine
building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space
vehicles. Russian enterprises are involved in shipbuilding,
manufacturing of road and rail transportation equipment, communications
equipment, agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment.
Russian firms produce electric power generating and transmitting
equipment, medical and scientific instruments, consumer durables,
textiles, foodstuffs, processed food products, and handicrafts.

Russia is a leading producer and exporter of minerals, gold, and all
major fuels. Oil and gas exports continue to be the main source of
hard currency
. Russia has vast reserves of oil, gas, and timber. Siberia and the
Russian Far East are particularly rich in natural resources. However,
most deposits of resources are located in remote areas with challenging
climate conditions.

The most important export sector is energy. Russia is the world leader
in natural gas production, third in oil, and fourth in coal. Gazprom,
the large natural gas monopoly, inherited from the former USSR a massive
network of production and distribution facilities that was built over a
period of decades. The energy industry is significant also in its
intricate ties with political elites. Energy monopolies are thus able to
enjoy special privileges such as subsidies of various kinds. However,
much of the physical infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. Gazprom
will require billions of dollars to upgrade its physical systems.
Declining energy prices hit Russia hard in the mid-1990s. The rebound in
energy prices in the late 1990s was a great benefit to Russia's
foreign trade account.

The oil sector has undergone substantial liberalization and now is
primarily restructured and privately held. The oil industry, unlike gas
and electricity, was broken up into a dozen companies as it was
privatized. Oil prices have therefore moved very quickly toward world
prices. Oil export tariffs were phased out entirely in July 1996.
Simultaneously, however, oil production
excise taxes
were increased.

Russia has an estimated 49 to 55 billion barrels of oil in proven
reserves, but aging equipment and poorly developed fields are making it
difficult to develop these reserves. The depletion of existing
oilfields, deterioration in transport infrastructure, and an acute
shortage of investment—aggravated by the country's August
1998 financial crisis—may lead to further declines in oil
production unless these trends can be reversed.

Natural gas is the predominant fuel in Russia, accounting for nearly
half of the country's domestic consumption. With 1.7 quadrillion
cubic feet (TCF) in proven gas reserves, Russia has more than enough for
itself, allowing it to export significant amounts of gas. In fact,
Russia is the world's largest gas exporter. Europe is a major
consumer. Although the country's natural gas production has
dipped only slightly (8 percent from 1992 to 1999) during the transition
to democracy, low investment has raised concerns about future production
levels. Gas production in the established West Siberian fields that
account for 76 percent of Russian gas output is declining. At the same
time, the planned development of new fields continues to be delayed as a
result of lack of investment resources.

Maybe, this site is great, but i'm dealing with another problem.
I've searched the whole internet, but i couldn't find any relevant piece of information about current state of Russian machinery.
Also, i couldn't find any article about how wto accession would impact russian machone-building. Can anybody help me, please?